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13 Horribly-Timed Water Balls

Luke Kerr-Dineen — Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Recounting shots that found the drink at inopportune moments

Media: 'I'm stupefied by the slow penalty'

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 23:30:00 GMT

News unfolds at a languid pace in golf, but a languid pace was the news in the second round of the Masters, introducing a note of controversy that provided a seamless segue from the end of the Golf Channel's "Live from the Masters" show to the beginning of ESPN's telecast.

Tianlang Guan, the Chinese teenager who earned widespread admiration for his poise and ability a day before, again was the center of attention on Friday when on the 17th hole he was assessed a slow-play penalty that jeopardized his making the cut. He made it on the number.

Near the end of its show, Golf Channel's Steve Sands interviwed Ken Schofield, the former executive director of the European PGA Tour, regarding the penalty called moments earlier by European Tour rules official John Paramor.

"John Paramor was my first recruit in 1976," Schofield said. "I didn't regret it then and I would not have regretted it in all of my time. John will have applied the penalty in accordance of the competitions of the 77th Masters tournament. Clearly this is very, very unfortunate, but it's a fact of life. Whether the guy is 14 or whether he would have been 60-year-old Tom Watson, John would have applied the rule."

ESPN's Mike Tirico, meanwhile, paid homage to Guan. "The 14-year-old handled it with class, saying afterwards, quote, I respect the decision [end quote], his maturity the equal of his ability, adding to the global admiration for an eighth-grader half a world from home."

Otherwise, opinion was largely the domain of those on Twitter, most coming down on the side of Guan, some curiously so. For instance, Joe Ogilvie, whose Twitter avatar bemoans slow play (a cap with a red circle, the words SLOW PLAY inside them, and a red line through it), wrote: "I'm stupefied by the slow penalty. Hope he still makes the cut."

Ogilvie is among golf's faster players, incidentally, is ardently anti-slow play, and seemingly would be expected to applaud the penalty.

Then there was tennis star Andy Roddick, who wrote, "I understand everyone saying he was warned etc....... My stance is simple to all of those arguments. He's 14."

What does his age have to do with the rules?

Speaking of age...

Given seven hours to fill on its "Live from the Masters" show, Golf Channel featured a couple of interesting interviews, one with Raymond Floyd, once a mentor to Fred Couples. Even at 53, Couples believes he can contend in the Masters, and, indeed, he finished Friday tied for second.

"He has a very good chance to win here because he has maintained his length," Floyd said. "That is paramount. Experience is huge. Huge. The more you play here the better you get a feel for the golf course. I see where Freddie's coming from. I agree with him totally. He has a chance to win here where he might not at any other tour event."

The big question, however, was posed by ESPN's Curtis Strange: "Can his nerves hold up?"

Speaking of slow play....

When the ESPN telecast began, the first we saw of Tiger Woods was on the tee at the par-3 fourth hole, where there was a backup. Rickie Fowler and Jason Day, playing in the threesome following Woods' group, were standing near the tee box and visible in the background.

'The most sin...'

That was all of the sentence that David Feherty got out when Jim Furyk chunked his third shot into the water at the 15th hole.

He was about to say, he said moments later, "the most sinister 75 yards in golf."

Tiger Woods might concur, his third from a similar distance striking the flagstick and bounding back into the water, a stroke of misfortune that would demoralize lesser players. Instead, he took a drop, hit it to within four feet and made the putt for a bogey.

"And that right there is why he is who he is," Arron Oberholser posted on Twitter. "#15th club strongest mind in the game."

On Twitter

David Duval: "The only way to deal with slow play is simple. Give the rules officials the ability to time players without warning them."

(Getty Images photo)

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David Fay: Fun At The Summit... Still

David Fay — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

If distance hasn't been maxed out, it will be felt first at Augusta.

Inside Golf World Podcast: Our "Words from the Wise" package

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:42:00 GMT

By Ryan Herrington

With age comes wisdom--or at least an appreciation that maybe we actually didn't know everything when we were in our 20s.

The perspective that golf's elder statesmen (and women) provide is what has made our "Words from the Wise" package a popular one among readers since we first ran it in 2011.

Our April 1 issue offers the thoughts of eight golf sages--Jack Nicklaus, Billy Casper, Marilynn Smith, Frank Hannigan, Frank Beard, Charlie Owens, Kel Nagle and Raymond Floyd.

In this week's Inside Golf World Podcast contributing writer John Strege, who spoke with Casper and Beard, discusses how he got his interview subjects to let it fly and speak to their hearts' content.

Listen to the Inside Golf World podcast
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(More) Words From The Wise

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 04:00:00 GMT

A major presence, an underrated hall of famer, an LPGA founder, a USGA stalwart, a candid Tour pro, a pioneering black golfer, a British Open champion, and one of the best players of his era discuss their lives and the game

David Graham still waiting for his Hall call

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 19:26:00 GMT

By Dave Shedloski

Former U.S. Open and PGA champion David Graham read with keen interest Raymond Floyd's recent published comments critical of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Perhaps because it hit so close to home.

"It's an interesting scenario because Raymond basically said some things that I have thought all along," Graham said by phone from his home in Whitefish, Mont. "The thing is Raymond has big boots in golf. He's a purist, and for him to say something like that was quite a statement."

Photo by Getty Images

Floyd, a four-time major champion who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1989, recently was quoted by Golf Magazine as saying, "the bar has been lowered" on qualifications. "Guys get voted into the Hall of Fame who don't belong, who lack the numbers. I'm very upset at the Hall of Fame for that. . . . I'll just say that you should have at least two majors. . . . There are guys in there that it's a joke. It takes integrity away from the term, 'Hall of Fame.'"

This year's inductees include Fred Couples, who won the Masters among 15 PGA Tour titles, and Colin Montgomerie, who won the Order of Merit on the European Tour a record eight times but neither captured a major nor won an official event in the U.S.

Graham, meanwhile, competing in his prime when the eras of Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson overlapped in the 1970s and early '80s, won eight times on tour, including the 1979 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills CC and the '81 U.S. Open at Merion, the latter with a punctilious final round of 67 that was so impressive that Ben Hogan called to congratulate him on the performance.

With 25 other worldwide victories, Graham, a native of Australia, joins Gary Player as the only men to win tournaments on six continents. He teamed with Bruce Devlin to capture the 1970 World Cup for Australia, and in 1994 he captained the International Team in the first Presidents Cup. He also earned five Champions Tour titles before congestive heart failure in 2004 ended his competitive career.

"It's hurtful," Graham, 66, said of his omission from the Hall of Fame. "When you have a record that should mean something and it doesn't, you have to wonder what's going on."

Graham isn't even on the Hall of Fame ballot, having fallen off in 2000 after failing to garner five percent of the vote in consecutive years. His only avenue to Hall inclusion is the veteran's category -- the route through which Ken Venturi will be inducted in May with Couples, Montgomerie, former European Tour executive director Ken Schofield and Willie Park Jr., who won two Open Championships in the late 1880s.

According to Brody Waters, director of museum operations at the World Golf Hall of Fame, Graham also has fallen off the ballot on the veteran's category because of lack of voting support. He can be reconsidered either by a nomination from a current Hall of Fame member or a member of the hall advisory board.

Other multiple major winners yet to be voted in include Dave Stockton, Padraig Harrington, Retief Goosen, Mark O'Meara, Fuzzy Zoeller, John Daly and Andy North. The latter two men also have fallen off the main ballot, Daly in 2007 and North in '97.

This is a big summer for Graham, who will return to Merion in June to host the past champions dinner with Nicklaus, Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer prior to the 113th U.S. Open on Merion's East Course. The Open was last played at Merion in '81, when Graham overcame a three-shot deficit to George Burns and won by three strokes with a 7-under 273 total.

"I'd had a conversation with (USGA executive director) Mike Davis about the possibility of being reconsidered this year with Merion hosting the U.S. Open," Graham said. "I don't know what happened to that. I don't really understand how it all works. In my mind, it's a bit of a fiasco. It's been disappointing to not even be considered, and I think Raymond made some very good points. But for me to say it doesn't carry the same weight as a player who already is in the Hall of Fame. All I have is my record, and it'd be nice if someone could explain to me how it's not good enough."

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Traumatic Brain Injuries Create A Dreaded Bond

Craig Dolch — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 05:00:00 GMT

Few people can understand what golfer Dana Quigley is going through as his son contends with a traumatic brain injury. Writer Craig Dolch is one of them.

U.S. Ryder Cup Captains

Alex Myers — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 17:00:00 GMT

A look back at the recent men who have led the American squad in the biennial competition versus Europe.

2011 Masters: Par 3 Contest

Thu, 07 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

The scene at Augusta's colorful Par 3 Contest

The Masters: Top 20 Players Of All Time

Fri, 01 Apr 2011 04:00:00 GMT

Golf World Senior Editor John Antonini ranks the greatest players in the history of the Masters